Chapter 437: Picking My Second Concubine
Damian and Lord Jugo eventually settled on an open terrace overlooking the heart of the Shika compound. The terrace had been built around a massive artificial pond, with clear water flowing continuously beneath the stone platform before disappearing into several channels that ran through the gardens below.
From their seats, Damian could see almost the entirety of the compound, including the blue armored guards stationed along the walls and the various aquatic sculptures illuminated beneath the moonlight. The atmosphere was peaceful now, almost difficult to reconcile with the chaos that had taken place only minutes earlier.
Rah sat slightly behind Damian while William stood at his usual position, his hands folded calmly behind his back.
Lord Jugo sat opposite Damian, his enormous shark like head lowered respectfully as a servant poured wine into their goblets before retreating. Damian picked up his cup and slowly rotated it between his fingers, watching the dark red liquid swirl around the bottom. He didn’t drink immediately. His expression remained blank as he stared into the wine, his thoughts clearly somewhere else.
After several seconds, Damian finally shifted his attention toward Jugo.
"Does your family hold a grudge against me for my predecessors’ sins?"
Jugo immediately straightened before cupping his fists and lowering his head.
"Sire, we dare not!"
Damian’s eyes narrowed. The response had come too quickly.
He studied the shark headed patriarch for several seconds, searching his expression for the slightest hesitation. Jugo remained perfectly still, although Damian could sense the tension in his body.
"Good..." Damian finally said. "Because I need to know you are truly on my side before I tell you this."
Jugo’s head snapped upward. Even Rah’s relaxed expression disappeared.
William’s eyes narrowed slightly as he studied Damian, clearly realizing that whatever Damian was about to say was not something he had previously shared with them.
At the entrance to the terrace, the young aquatic woman who had attacked Damian earlier was intrested in what was happening.
She slowly poked her head through the doorway, her deep blue face partially hidden behind the frame as she watched her father and the Prince with obvious curiosity. She had clearly intended to remain unnoticed, but Damian’s divine perception had already caught her presence.
He ignored her.
"Sire?" Jugo muttered, confusion spreading across his face.
Damian finally took a sip of his wine then he placed the goblet down.
"Jugo... I will gather all seven deadly sins and become the true Demonic Emperor."
Buzz!
Jugo shot to his feet so violently that his table overturned.
The goblet crashed onto the stone floor, followed by the wine jar and several dishes that had been sitting between them. Wine splattered across the terrace while the table landed on its side with a heavy crash. The young woman at the entrance let out a startled yelp as the sudden movement caused the decorative veil hanging beside the doorway to collapse over her head. She stumbled backward and crashed onto the floor, disappearing beneath the fabric.
Rah’s eyes widened while William’s normally composed expression finally cracked. Even he hadn’t expected Damian to make such a declaration so casually.
Jugo stared at Damian as though he had suddenly grown another head. This wasn’t an ordinary political ambition.
Every Prince in the Underworld understood the implications.
It was one thing to kill another Prince and eliminate him from the struggle for the throne. The princes had been fighting, scheming and eliminating one another for countless years. That was simply the nature of their existence.
But Damian wasn’t talking about merely defeating another Prince. He was talking about gathering all seven Deadly Sins.
He was talking about taking his own inheritance and combining it with the other six. And after that, he intended to challenge the existing order and claim the title of True Demonic Emperor.
Even Sol openly pursuing the destruction of the Underworld’s demonic civilization, would never make such a declaration lightly.
Because the moment a prince attempts to gather all seven inheritances, the balance between the princes would collapse and the other Princes would have no choice but to unite.
They would be forced to stop him before he became too powerful to contain.
But what if Damian actually succeeded?
"Sire..." Jugo gasped.
His mouth opened and closed several times as he struggled to formulate a response. He had expected Damian to speak about politics, perhaps the assassination attempt, perhaps the future relationship between the royal family and the Shaki Clan.
He had not expected this.
Damian calmly watched him. He wasn’t waiting for permission. He wasn’t even particularly interested in Jugo’s opinion.
He had already made his decision.
Damian casually waved one hand toward the overturned table.
"In this journey I’m about to embark on, I plan to overturn the heavens." Damian’s voice remained surprisingly calm as he leaned back slightly. "I want to pull the clans at the very bottom all the way to the top of the food chain. I want to create a realm ruled by those the world has claimed are weak."
Jugo’s breathing became heavier. Damian slowly extended one hand across the table.
The skin around his fingers gradually darkened, taking on a strange, almost abyssal hue. His nails elongated, turning purple as they sharpened into curved claws.
Damian slowly curled his fingers.
"With these claws, I killed a dragon on Earth and with these same claws, I will not only conquer the Underworld."
His eyes lifted toward Jugo.
"Even the heavens will fall."
The words settled over the terrace. Nobody laughed or dared.
The young woman beneath the fallen veil had stopped struggling completely, her blue eyes visible through a gap in the fabric as she stared at Damian. Rah watched him with a strange mixture of admiration and concern, while William remained silent because he understood that Damian wasn’t speaking metaphorically.
Damian genuinely intended to do it.
He slowly withdrew his hand, allowing the claws to return beneath his sleeve.
"Decide now, Jugo." Damian said. "Are you bold enough to follow me on this journey as an in-law to the next Demonic Emperor?"
Buzz!
Jugo’s mind went completely still.
If another Demigod had stood before him and spoken these words, Jugo would have personally beaten him half to death for insulting his intelligence. A Demigod proclaiming that he intended to overthrow the heavens and become the True Demonic Emperor would ordinarily sound like the ravings of a lunatic.
But this wasn’t some random Demigod.
This was Damian, the Prince of Lust.
The same Prince whose return had become one of the most discussed events among demons across countless territories.
Even demons who hated him were watching him.
Damian’s name and achievements had weight. And more importantly, his current strength was still an enormous unknown.
So as outrageous as the declaration sounded, Jugo couldn’t simply dismiss it.
Damian had earned the right to dream that big. Perhaps that was what frightened Jugo the most.
Yet there was something else Damian had said that finally pierced through the overwhelming ambition.
Jugo’s shark like face shifted.
"In-law?" he asked in surprise.
Damian’s expression softened into a faint smile. His hand slowly extended past Jugo. It pointed toward the young woman still lying beneath the fallen veil at the entrance.
She froze and her eyes widened as she realized she was suddenly the center of everyone’s attention.
Damian’s smile deepened.
"Offer me your daughter as my second concubine so that our alliance is sealed not just by words, but by blood."
The woman’s mouth slowly opened. Jugo’s entire body stiffened and Rah’s eyebrows shot upward.
Even William turned his head toward Damian. Damian didn’t seem bothered by the reaction.
"The Shaki Clan will not be abandoned this time."
The words struck the room like an explosion.
The guards outside the terrace exchanged stunned looks. The servants who had been standing nearby immediately lowered their heads, desperately pretending they hadn’t heard anything. Jugo’s daughter finally pushed the veil away from her body and sat upright, her deep blue face turning noticeably darker as she stared at Damian.
Her father remained frozen.
He had come into this meeting expecting political cooperation. He had expected Damian to perhaps offer protection to the Shaki Clan in exchange for their loyalty.
He had never imagined the Prince would directly propose a marriage alliance.
That meant his daughter would become part of Damian’s household and, by extension, the Shaki Clan would become directly tied to the royal family.
Jugo slowly turned toward his daughter and she stared back at him. Neither knew what to say.
Damian simply picked up his goblet examined the remaining wine inside it and took another leisurely drink.
He looked completely unconcerned about the chaos he had just created.
For Damian, this was simple.
If he was truly going to overturn Velmora, challenge the princes, gather the Seven Deadly Sins and eventually reach the heavens, then he needed allies who were willing to take the same gamble.
The Shaki Clan had been pushed toward the bottom of Velmora’s political hierarchy.
Damian intended to drag them upward and in exchange, he wanted them to bet everything on him.